Czech Republic History Timeline & FactsSlovene History Background
The Czech Republic was part of Czechoslovakia until the "velvet divorce" in January 1993. The following timeline therefore follows the rich history of Czechoslovakia and the Slavic people who were the most numerous ethnic group in Europe:
The 'West Slavs' were the Poles, the Czechs and the Slovaks
The 'East Slavs' consisted of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians
The 'South Slavs' consisted of Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians Serbs and Slovenians
In the early Middle Ages Slavs were often used as slaves which is possibly the origin of the generic term 'Slavs' History of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic
Bronze and Iron Age - The emergence of the Celts across Europe
15 BC The Romans had begun to extend their empire
476 AD The Roman Empire collapsed
550 Slovenes begin settling in eastern Alps
700's The rule of Charlemagne, king of the Franks
750-800 Slovenes Christianized
830 The Great Moravian Empire was established
907 The Moravian Empire collapsed with the Hungarian invasion
962 - Holy Roman Empire established
1085 Vratislav II was granted the royal crown and become the first Czech king starting the Premyslid dynasty
1306 The Premyslid dynasty ends with the death of King Wenceslas III
1414 John Huss (Jan Hus) spoke against the corruption of the Catholic Church and conducted his sermons in Czech so it could be understood by ordinary people
1415 John Huss (Jan Hus) burnt at the stake
1420 to 1434 The Hussite Wars
1458 The Hussites elected a Czech Protestant, George of Podebrady as the country's new king
1526 - 1790 The Hapsburg Dynasty
1740-1780 The duke of Bavaria, Charles Albert, was proclaimed king by the Czech nobility but Maria Theresa (1717-17800) daughter of Holy Roman Emperor rules with her accession to the Hapsburg lands
1764-1790 Her son, Joseph II's reign
1760s The period of Slovene Enlightenment. The provinces of the Czech and Austrian territories were subdivided into administrative districts and German became the official language
1769 Napoleon Bonaparte is born in Corsica (1769-1821)
Late 1700s-1815 The Napoleonic Wars
1809-1813 Illyrian Provinces established by Napoleon which included Slovene lands
1815 Napoleon was defeated
1848 the Czechs convened the first Slavic Congress to discuss the possibility of political consolidation of Austrian Slavs, including Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Ruthenians (Ukrainians), Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs
1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, was assassinated starting World War I
3 November 1918 World War I ended
12 November 1918 The last Habsburg Emperor was overthrown
1918 October 28 The fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I, the Czech lands and Slovakia jointly proclaimed the establishment of independent Czechoslovakia
1938 September Germany, Britain, France and Italy sign the Munich Pact, giving Hitler the right to invade and claim Czechoslovakia's border areas
1939 March 15 Czechoslovakia invaded by Hitler's army
1945 May 5, 1945 Prague Uprising and the territories of the Czech Republic liberated
May 1945 World War II ends
1942 Slovene Covenant established
August 1945 The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
1945 World War II ends
1945 - 1989 The Communist Era
1980's - The Russian perestroika was introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev marked the last years of communism in Czechoslovakia
August 21, 1968, five Warsaw Pact member countries invade Czechoslovakia and Soviet troops continue to occupy the country until 1989
1989 November The Velvet Revolution brought an end to communism
1993 January 1 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two independent countries, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Czech Republic History Time line |
